Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

allow me one unpublishable poem
(though I have hundreds)
don't attack the first letter in my first word
or question how and why
"allow" "me" are or should be connected
who do I think I am?
just someone who is punching out words
hopefully communication
it is uninspired true
no dash of taste-quickening salt
okay, you ask
"taste-quickening" ?
the phrase popped into my head
is it true?
does salt quicken the tongue's taste?
probably not but it sounds good
pretend it does
you can't
tees must be crossed
and yes (cliché) eyes must be dotted
my eyes are always dotted with my pupils
I try to teach or have them taught
every single sightseeing day
you say "irrelevant"
not poetic
a digression which of course is
a transgression
but you (me speaking)
have taken a chainsaw to my imagination
and the rhythm is all wrong
I hear the buzz of criticism
in my own head
I wanted to write about
how a dog's tongue hangs out for air
in hot weather
how it seems (to me)
that having all that hair on your body
in August
has got to be uncomfortable
what?
an unjustified line break?
get on my knees? Ask forgiveness?
You won't grant it even if I grovel?
I'm asking "please stop this mental torture"
I'm not as good as my self-image
I'm a ham actor
doing the "To be or not to be"
soliloquy
I love that word "soliloquy"
water on the tongue
it drips into my ears
like a trickle down a cliff
and into a quiet cool green deep pool
oh, if I could only write poetry
to still the critic-beasts

Minor footnote: this poem seems objectionable to the Algonquin Table as I can't post it. No vitriol in this. Not really. Amazing how far Stalin will go. (bemusement, not indignation)

Hey gang, I'm not beating a dead horse. The horse is dead. I was just trying to tidy up the droppings that were littering the street.

Algonquin sounds like a poem in itself and not one for general consumption.

On the other hand, this was honest, clever, hit the nail's head and worthy of posting. I'm glad you did. Honest words are felt no matter the content... just honest.

second minor footnote: the poem is getting published in the Here and Now weekly poetry blog published by Allen Itz.

http://herenow.7beats.com/

Doreen, discovered that Jeffrey Gibson is Jeffrey B Gibson. He is on facebook. His photo there is not of the unlovable curmudgeon we know on Algonquin. He lives in Chicago. He is a Voice Actor with Naked Voices. Whether that is a full time job or an avocation I don't know. It looks like he is a professor of some sort.

You might also check the website Rate My Professor http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRat ... tid=562027

He teaches humanities at Harry S. Truman College in Chicago. I don't know at the moment what courses he teaches. If you look at the ratemyprofessors site you can see what his students have said about him. It is revealing.

Is it frightening to be able to get info on strangers?

In this case Gibson is humanized a little. It doesn't excuse his often snarky attitude on AT but it does show him as a human being. You can infer other things about him through his FB site. He is a photographer, for one. He is for Bernie Sanders. At least, in my mind, that is one good thing about him.

If Gibson is as professionally accomplished as he is, why is he wasting time, making the world a more uncivil place on Algonquin Table? A hobby?

Mr. Gibson may be professionally accomplished but it gives him no right to mess with ones head. I find him rude and disrespectful to be honest. I too have had my poems criticized by this so called gentleman, he is a waste of my time. And that is all that I will say about that. As for your poem I can relate and I love it!